Ruth's musings

I have been dealing with breast cancer for a while, and have been sharing my journey with friends, family, and prayer partners. This blog brings all my updates together in one place, and leaves me free to muse on other parts of my life. Thanks for visiting!

Thursday, October 04, 2007

Ruth Update, October 4, 2007

Dear Friends, Relatives, and Prayer Partners,

I met with my oncologist yesterday. She is going to treat me pretty conservatively for now, watching closely with another PET scan in three months or so, but I should not be missing any work, besides a few hours once a month, so we can all calm down. I will be getting Faslodex which is a once a month intramuscular injection (a shot in the butt), and Aredia , which is a once-a-month IV infusion.

The Faslodex is supposed to interfere with the metabolism of the cancer cells, and the Aredia is supposed to help with bone growth and healing. It worries me a bit because it is related to Zometa, which put me in the hospital with a high fever and generally yucky side effects last time. My oncologist knows about that episode, though, and she seems pretty confident. We shall see.

The good news is: I am not in any pain where the cancer is in my bones and there is no sign of any cancer outside of my skeleton. My cancer is now in a “chronic” phase, if you will. I could go on like this for years.

The bad news is that we don’t know the mind of God, and things could change at any time. My oncologist is saving the big guns for when we really need them. Barring a miracle, we will probably need them eventually. She knew of a patient who lasted for 18 years after getting to this stage, but she is an extreme example. The cancer did get her in the end.

The only thing I need from you is prayer. I will not be losing my hair, so I don't need hats. I should stay pretty healthy, so I won't need a lot of help with food and that kind of thing.
You have my permission to pray for a miracle, but I will settle for a long, fairly normal life. I still would like to play with my grandchildren -- at least nine months after I become a mother-in-law!

Get your mammograms. Do your self exams.

Ruth







Labels:

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

<< Home